I’m guessing most of you had one question before you signed up for the retreat… a question you either asked yourself or asked other people… “Who else is going?” OR “Are you going?”

It’s a question we almost always ask before going somewhere or committing to something.

Why? Because we want to know if our friends are going to be there or not. We realize that something is only as fun as the people who we get to share it with.

You go on a retreat… because your friends will be there. You go to someone else’s house because that’s where your friends are hanging out… you go to the movies because your friends are also going, you go out to eat because your friends are going out to eat.

When I was in high school there was a diner called Jenny’s that was a popular hangout. Which is very odd looking back…Because Jenny’s really wasn’t special at all. The service was usually grumpy, the food wasn’t very good, and there were almost always at least two truckers in the vicinity who look like they may have killed someone in the previous 24 hours. But going to Jenny’s was great! Why? Because that’s where my friends were.

Every great sitcom has a place like this…. Friends had the Central Perk, Seinfeld had Tom’s Restaurant, Parks and Rec has JJ’s Diner.

Friendship is the part of our lives that can make good things better (like a wonderful movie) and bad things really enjoyable (like a crappy diner).

We are designed to live life in friendships.

We were not made to be alone.

Into the Wild tells the story of a guy who separates himself from all human companionship and it ends up destroying him… he realizes how much he needs the companionship of other people.

The God who made us is a relational God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

And he created us to be relational beings… both with him and with one another.

Friendship runs in our DNA.

This weekend I want us to get a better picture of what our friendships should look like, who we should be as friends, who we should be friends with, and how we can make an effort to grow closer in the friendships we have.

Attention Funnel: Historical Best Friend Pictures/ Celebrity BFF’s

All throughout history the BFF has existed – a friend who is by your side forever.

It’s the type of friendship we all really want (whether we call it a BFF or not)

But are the components that make for a friendship like this. How can we find, make, and keep this type of friends? To answer some of these questions I want to look at a pair of Best Friends in the Bible… Jonathan and David.

One of the greatest feelings on this earth is the feeling of happiness.

There’s not much better than happiness?

Think about the best day you had in the past couple weeks… I would guess it was a good day because you were happy most of the day.

Your hair was done just right.

Everybody was laughing at your jokes.

You got back that Math Test that you thought you did terrible on only to find out that you got a 97 on it!

That girl who you secretly have a crush on smiled at you… TWICE!

You hit a buzzer beater in overtime at your basketball game… and guess who was watching… that girl you have a crush on… guess who just got a 3rd smile… you did.

Your parents tell you your allowed to stay out an hour past curfew because you killed it on your math test.

Then your driving home and your song comes on… your belting out Bad Blood as you pull into the driveway.

You walk inside and open the Freezer only to find DOUBLE DUNKER Ice Cream

#Blessed #Bestdayever #nofilter #3smilesinoneday

Maybe you’ve had a day like that recently.

But here’s the problem… usually for every great day we have like that… there’s also the reverse… a terrible, horrible, no good day. Where everything that can go wrong does go wrong… #shedidntevennoticemetoday

See in this world happiness often revolves around our circumstances… when things go well we’re happy and when things go bad we’re unhappy.

Which presents a problem for exiles… if happiness is rooted in circumstances… then exiles better prepare for a life of a lot of unhappiness.

Why?? Because circumstances for exiles are rarely ideal.

This morning, I want to show you that happiness, or joy as I’ll refer to it from here on out, does not need to be rooted in circumstances.

Sometimes people seem strange in old pictures… whether it’s because they are acting strange… or because they have changed so much that they seem strange… or because the fashions have changed so much that what they are wearing seems strange. They seem so strange that sometimes they belong to a different time and world.

Tonight I want to show you how Christians may sometimes live and appear as strangers in this world because they are ultimately living for another world… another home

Big Idea: Christians live as strangers in this world because they are looking forward to a future home.

Some thoughts after our Senior High Retreat, Uncovered–Every Scar has a Story:

Dave Brandt is the most intentional guy I know. While I played for him at Messiah, there wasn’t a second of practice that wasn’t planned with a strategic purpose. We didn’t do things simply do things for the sake of doing them; there was a goal that we were working toward. And Dave got results. A lot of results. Perhaps one he didn’t consider would be how his players would end up replicating his kind of intentionality within their own spheres of influence long after their Messiah Soccer days. (more…)